The Conservatives and Labour launched their final push yesterday to woo voters ahead of this week's British general election, as potential kingmaker parties marked out their territory.

Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron and Labour opposition leader Ed Miliband kicked off the final three days of campaigning with stark messages to voters about the choice they face.

With polls showing the two main parties neck-and-neck and unlikely to win a majority, the race to take Downing Street will likely hinge on smaller parties such as the Scottish National Party (SNP) and the Liberal Democrats.

"It’s the start of a week when Britain will decide its future. By Friday you'll either have Ed Miliband or me as your prime minister," Cameron said.

"It's that simple - an inescapable choice: me leading a strong and stable government, or with him: the chaos of being held to ransom by the SNP.

"Your vote can and will make a difference. It's that's close."

Miliband said the election was a

"clash of two visions" about wages, health and young people.

He tried to hang the election battle on contrasting plans for the state-funded National Health Service.

He took the unprecedented step of having his six election pledges carved on a 2.6-metre (8.5-foot) high tablet of stone, sparking much mockery in

ment for forming a stable government.

That could mean deals with smaller parties in exchange for agreeing to their manifesto pledges, or even coalition agreements.

Current projection would leave both major parties well short of winning the 326 seats needed for an absolute majority in parliament's lower House of Commons.

The Liberal Democrats, led by Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, have spent the past five years as the junior partners to the Conservatives in the governing coalition,but now claiming a greater share of the cake

The Conservatives are the odds-on favourites to win the most seats.

However, bookmakers say Cameron is no more likely

yesterday's newspapers.

On social media, the stunt was ridiculed as Miliband's "Moses moment” and spawned imitations such as a shoppinglist for the leader's household.

If Thursday's vote results in a hung parliament, it could trigger days, if not weeks, of tricky negotiations as political parties try to come up with an arrange-

than Miliband to be prime minister, because smaller, left-wing parties would nominally prefer Labour in government.

Miliband has ruled out striking a formal coalition or deal with the leftwing secessionist SNP, who opinion polls predict will form the third-biggest bloc, winning many Scottish seats at Labour's expense.